The Story Museum

The Story Museum is a museum in Oxford, England. It aims to encourage education and support community engagement by exploring all forms of stories. It is a registered charity under English law. As of 7 July 2018 the exhibitions of the museum were closed for renovation, although the cafe remained open. The museum was slated to reopen to the public on Saturday 4 April 2020, but the opening was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It partially reopened on 6 August, with visitors able to visit the cafe, shop and two of the new galleries. The full reopening happened on the 24 October 2020.

History

The museum was founded in 2003 and initially operated as a virtual museum with no premises of its own. It coordinated several projects and exhibitions, and worked and associated with authors and illustrators including Michael Morpurgo, Terry Pratchett, Philip Pullman, Jacqueline Wilson and Quentin Blake.

In November 2009, it was announced that the museum would move to premises at Rochester House in Pembroke Street, following a gift of £2.5m from a private donor. The Museum is continuing to fundraise for its ongoing development to complete the refurbishment of its site. The Story Museum coordinates Oxford's Alice's Day, which is held on the first Saturday in July to celebrate the first telling of ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''. The museum also hosts author events, children's activities and drop-in activities, as well as running outreach projects in schools in Oxfordshire and beyond.

Exhibitions

In 2012 The Museum worked with then-artist-in-residence Ted Dewan to build a "Storyloom", a large scale piece of kinetic art with an in-depth fictional history. The Storyloom went on to be featured in the 2012 Cultural Olympiad.

From 2016 until 2017, the Story Museum ran the exhibition ''26 Characters'' featuring photography by Cambridge Jones, which was developed with the involvement of children's authors and illustrators, all of whom were asked to choose and then dress as their favourite childhood characters.
The participants included:
* Terry Jones as Rupert the Bear
* Michael Morpurgo as Abel Magwitch
* Philip Pullman as Long John Silver
* Ted Dewan, Ted and Pandora Dewan as The Borrowers, Pod and Arriety
* Benjamin Zephaniah as Anansi
* Katherine Rundell as Where the wild things are, A Wild Thing
* Charlie Higson as Boromir
* Terry Pratchett as Just William, William Brown
* Malorie Blackman as the Wicked Witch of the West
* Steven Butler and Francesca Simon as Hatter (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland), The Mad Hatter and Queen of Hearts (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland), The Queen of Hearts
* Shirley Hughes and Shirley Hughes#Early life, Clare Vulliamy as The Importance of Being Earnest, Miss Prism and Lady Bracknell
* Geraldine McCaughrean as Bellerophon
* Holly Smale as the White Witch
* Michael Rosen as Till Eulenspiegel
* Neil Gaiman as The Wind in the Willows#Main characters, Badger
* Julia Donaldson, Julia and Julia Donaldson#University life, Malcolm Donaldson as The Owl and the Pussycat
* Katrice Horsley as Mary Poppins (character), Mary Poppins
* Anthony Horowitz as Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
* Frances Hardinge as The Scarlet Pimpernel
* Jamila Gavin as Hanuman
* Kevin Crossley-Holland as Merlin
* Cressida Cowell as Peter Pan

From 2016 The Story Museum ran an exhibition called ''Animal'', focusing on the role of animals as characters in texts including Watership Down, Fantastic Mr Fox, Wallace and Gromit, Maus and the works of Aesop.

In 2017 The Story Museum ran an exhibition called ''Wild About Colour'' featuring a number of pieces by Brian Wildsmith alongside works by contemporary illustrators who had been influenced by his use of colour. The exhibition was curated by Helen Cooper (illustrator), Helen Cooper and displayed the work of Shaun Tan and Korky Paul amongst others.

Renovation

The museum closed for renovation on 7 July 2018. The renovation is anticipated to cost £6 million. They received a £1 million grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Heritage Lottery Fund in 2015, and a £2 million grant from Arts Council England. The renovation was completed in 2020.

See also

* Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre
* Museum of Oxford
* Seven Stories
* List of books about Oxford
* Society for Storytelling
* Ministry of Stories
* 826 Valencia

References

External links

The Story Museum website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Story Museum
Museums established in 2003
Museums in Oxford
British children's literature
Education in Oxford
Educational charities based in the United Kingdom
Charities based in Oxfordshire
Literary museums in England
2003 establishments in England